Ramaphosa moots leaseholds instead of land ownership for foreigners

PARLIAMENT - The possibility of government leasing land to foreigners instead of selling it has not been ruled out, President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated on Tuesday.

Asked during his quarterly question-and-answer session in the National Assembly whether moves to increase foreign investments meant government would continue selling land to foreigners, Ramaphosa cited the examples of other countries who opt for long leaseholds.

"They [other countries] resort to the lease of land for people who want to invest in their country. That lease does not result in ownership of land," said Ramaphosa.

"We have looked at this and we have felt that these are things that can also be well applied in our country as well where there is land hunger. There is nothing wrong at all with leasing land to people outside of your country. There is nothing that stops us from precisely doing that."